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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:50 am
Time: 11:50 am
Results for judicial proceedings
1 results foundAuthor: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) Title: Child-friendly justice - Perspectives and experiences of professionals on children's participation in civil and criminal judicial proceedings in 10 EU Member States Summary: All European Union (EU) Member States have a duty to ensure that children's best interests are the primary consideration in any action that affects them. This consideration is of particular importance when children are involved in criminal and civil judicial proceedings. Such proceedings can be stressful for anyone. Even more so for children, who may become traumatised if the procedures are not child friendly, the settings unsuitable and the professionals involved inadequately trained. Thousands of children are affected. Data show that in 11 EU Member States alone, around 74,000 children were victims of crime and 495,000 were affected by parental divorce in 2010. The treatment of children in judicial proceedings is an important fundamental rights concern, addressed by the United Nations in its Convention on the Rights of the Child, which all EU Member States have ratified and which celebrated its 25th anniversary in November 2014. The EU further shows its commitment to this issue by promoting the Council of Europe's 2010 Guidelines on child-friendly justice and helping its Member States improve the protection of child rights in their judicial systems. These Council of Europe guidelines promote children's rights to be heard, to be informed, to be protected and to nondiscrimination. To determine the extent to which these rights are respected and fulfilled in practice, the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), in cooperation with the European Commission, collected and analysed data through interviews with professionals and children who experienced judicial proceedings. The present report, which is the first part of this work, examines the responses of 570 judges, prosecutors, lawyers, court staff, psychologists, social workers and police officers interviewed in 10 EU Member States. These professionals are in daily contact with children going through judicial proceedings. The evidence they provided shows that there is a long way to go to make justice more child-friendly across the EU. The second report of this FRA research will concentrate on the responses of the children who were interviewed. Practices of child participation in criminal and civil judicial proceedings vary considerably not just across, but also within Member States, pointing to a need for clear and consistent standards and guidelines and the systematic monitoring of their implementation. Children are not sufficiently supported when participating in a criminal or civil proceeding, court settings that can be intimidating for children are not always adjusted to their needs. Concrete measures, such as preventing a child from directly confronting defendants or witnesses in court or ensuring that a child is informed about and understands the proceedings, are not yet common practice. The research also revealed, however, a number of promising practices, outlined in this report. Details: Vienna: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2015. 133p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2015 at: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2015-child-friendly-justice-professionals_en.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Europe URL: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2015-child-friendly-justice-professionals_en.pdf Shelf Number: 135645 Keywords: Child ProtectionChild WitnessesJudicial ProceedingsJuvenile Justice Systems |